Lincoln Town Car BPS

For those times when living is a luxury.

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Lincoln is moving its Town Car into a rough segment of the market, so rough in fact that armor is necessary. The Town Car BPS (for "ballistic protection series") is a factory-backed in-house armored car. Who needs this kind of protection? As far as Lincoln is concerned, anyone willing to part with the $145,790 necessary to take one home.

According to Lincoln, there are about 22,000 personal armored vehicles on the planet. Primarily modified by aftermarket specialists, this segment of the market has been largely ignored by automakers because of the small numbers of armored cars being sold. Lincoln now sees plenty of growth in the segment and plans on selling 300 or so of its Town Car BPS in 2005. Half the cars will be sold in the U.S., and the rest will undoubtedly find their way to the most dangerous places in the world.

The defensive modifications that go into the Town Car are extensive. Hidden steel plating and ceramic-aramid plating surround the passenger compartment behind the standard sheetmetal. Since most shots are taken at visible targets, the BPS car's glass is nearly 1.6 inches thick, or 40 millimeters, quite a bit thicker than the 5mm glass in most regular cars. The floor of the car even gets an aramid mat beneath the carpet that offers some security from a grenade attack. No surprise: The Town Car BPS is heavy, with changes adding nearly 2000 pounds to the already portly 4491-pound Lincoln. The BPS car tips the scales at 6340 pounds.

One would expect a vehicle that weighs more than three Lotus Elises to handle about as well as three Elises stacked atop one another. But Lincoln engineers worked hard to keep the BPS car manageable. The handling target was the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, and through the addition of stiffer springs and dampers and a beefed-up frame and anti-roll bars, Lincoln has created a beast that handles itself as deliberately as the bodyguard/ chauffeurs paid to drive them.

The engine remains stock. A stronger police-car alternator and a limousine-spec transmission and rear differential are the only changes. The 0-to-60 time, not surprisingly, takes a full 12.0 seconds, the quarter-mile passes in 18.6 seconds at 77 mph. A normal Town Car achieves 60 mph in 9.5 seconds and the quarter-mile in 16.8 seconds at 82 mph. Under full throttle the engine sounds quite wheezy, but driven more conservatively, the armored car's acceleration feels adequate.

The brakes are also limo-spec, which incidentally are shared with the Heritage-edition F-150 pickup truck. The larger calipers and rotors stop the behemoth from 70 mph in 226 feet. Pedal feel is good and the brakes feel strong, but with more than three tons of mass, it's best to be cautious and leave a lot of space between this brute and other cars.

Being cautious is what the Town Car BPS is all about. It is designed to shield its occupants from danger and get them away from a threat as quickly as possible. It's prohibitively expensive, but for those three percent of owners who will experience an attack in their Town Car BPS, the extra dough will seem well spent.